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by Chris Becker The Alabama senatorial election is putting a little spice into a bland market with the USD falling slightly against the majors – Aussie dollar particularly – as the Fed begins its meeting tonight. Asian stocks were mixed across the region as commodity prices remained relatively stable. In mainland China the Shanghai Composite has

From the AIG: “The ACCC’s latest gas market update confirms that the gas crisis has shifted down a gear since early 2017 – but it also confirms Australian industry’s concerns that we are still far from affordable energy,” Australian Industry Group Chief Executive Innes Willox said today. “More supply is clearly being made available in

The post Idiot manufacturing lobby embraces suicidal gas benchmark appeared first on MacroBusiness.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released its Births 2016 survey, which recorded a 1.9% rise in births to a record high 311,104 in 2016, with the fertility rate falling marginally to 1.789, thus remaining below replacement: The next chart plots births across Australia, which have hit a record high: Below

The post Australian births all-time high but we’re dying even more appeared first on MacroBusiness.

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday I reported how Sydney’s crippling immigration-fuelled population growth had pushed the rail network to breaking point, with one early morning incident causing mayhem well into the evening across the metropolitan train system. Today, Sydney Trains boss, Howard Collins, admitted that soaring passenger demand means the train system is stretched beyond

The post #Sardine Sydney train crash to worsen appeared first on MacroBusiness.

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday I reported how Sydney’s crippling immigration-fuelled population growth had pushed the rail network to breaking point, with one early morning incident causing mayhem well into the evening across the metropolitan train system. Today, Sydney Trains boss, Howard Collins, admitted that soaring passenger demand means the train system is stretched beyond

The post #Sardine Sydney train crash to worsen appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The ASX is mounting another challenge for new highs in its unmistakably bullish ascending triangle chart: This despite the AUD being well bid: Bonds are selling too so its a generalised lift in Australians growth sentiment for no obvious reason. Fatigued bears. The ASX is firing on both cylinders, of dirt: And debt: As The

The post ASX crawls, Australian dollar leaps higher appeared first on MacroBusiness.

From The Australian: Malcolm Turnbull admitted today the government is “fighting to hold” Bennelong ahead of this weekend’s crucial by-election. “We’re focused on winning but the polls are very tight. We are fighting to hold that seat,” the prime minister said, before joining Liberal candidate John Alexander for another media event in the electorate. Mr

The post Has Beijing handed Bennelong to Labor? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Via Domainfax: More than half of Australian homeowners with a mortgage would be in dire straits if their repayments increased by more than $100 a month, new data shows. A nationwide survey found 54 per cent of borrowers do not think they could handle a repayment rise of more than $23 a week. Worse still,

The post Half of mortgagees in “dire straits” with two rate hikes appeared first on MacroBusiness.

UBS giving the miners a lift today: UBS VIEW China’s property & infrastructure construction boom will slow in 2018e & 2019e, but we don’t expect a collapse, because i) slowing is by policy (tightening) design, ii) property inventory drawdown means developers will be building a higher share of (flat to lower) sales than last year,

The post UBS upgrades iron ore for 2018 appeared first on MacroBusiness.

By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for November, which revealed a 0.2% seasonally adjusted monthly rise in the national median house price, with prices up 4.0% year-on-year: Outside Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 0.8% in November, with prices up 8.8% year-on-year. Looking at the major cities, Auckland’s

The post Auckland house sales slump to 2010 lows appeared first on MacroBusiness.